Self-Study course equivalent to the prerequisites for EPI 540
“Introduction to Cancer Biology”
Winter 2008
Book: Molecular Biology of the Cell, 5th edition
1) Chapter 1:
a. Cells and Genomes (priority 1)
b. Genetic Information in Eucaryotes. This also discusses model systems for genetic
studies, such as drosophila (priority 2)
2) Chapter 2: Cell Chemistry and Biosynthesis
a. The chemical components of a cell (ok to skim, priority 2)
b. Amino acids are the subunits of proteins (priority 1)
c. Nucleotides (priority 1)
3) Chapter 3: Proteins
a. The shape and structure of proteins (priority 1, although you can skim toward the
end)
b. Protein function (priority 1, but ok to skim), no need to read after subsection on
tunneling/channeling (priority 3)
4) Chapter 4: DNA, Chromosomes, and Genomes
a. Chromosomal DNA and its packaging in the DNA fiber (priority 1)
b. The regulation of chromatin structure (priority 3, we will read this in class)
c. The global structure of chromosomes (priority 2-3)
d. How genomes evolve (priority 2-3, although an interesting chapter)
5) Chapter 5: DNA replication, Repair and Recombination
a. Priority 3 – will be discussed in class
6) Chapter 6: How Cells Read the Genome
a. From DNA to RNA – only first sections needed through Polymerase II (priority
1), then the beginning of splicing. Basically, it is important to know how one gets
from DNA to a protein.
b. From RNA to protein Priority 1 until “There are minor variations in the standard
genetic code”. After that priority 2 (skim).
7) Chapter 7: Control of gene expression
a. An overview of gene control (priority 1)
8) Chapter 8: Manipulating proteins, DNA and RNA
a. Analyzing proteins (priority 1, but only first sections through antibodies)
b. Analyzing and manipulationg DNA (priority 2, skim, but know what PCR is and
how nucleotide sequences are use dot predict the amino acid sequences of
proteins = 2 subheadings).
c. Studying gene expression and function (priority 2, skim, but make sure you know
something about
i. what a mouse knockout
ii. how mutations can cause loss or gain of protein function
iii. expression of individual genes by RT-PCR
iv. microarrays
9) Chapter 10: Membrane structure
a. The Lipid bilayer (priority 2)
10) Chapter 17: The Cell Cycle
a. Overview of the cell cycle (priority 1, also know the key aspects of mitosis and
meiosis, which are discussed in this chapter), rest will be discussed in class
11) Chapter 18: Apoptosis
a. First subheading (which is kind of an overview), priority 1
12) Glossary: Priority 1 Please use it at any point during reading, it’s excellent